Money saving tips and advice

Money saving tips and advice

Nowadays the need to save money when and wherever possible is more important than ever before. This not only refers to a specifically allocated savings account, where spare money can be accumulated but more often than not, finding ways to save money in our everyday lives. This means ensuring we pay the best price for the goods and services that we require and in addition, ensuring we are not heading towards over-commitment in a financial sense. Consumer debt is an increasingly common occurrence for UK consumers with year on year figures suggesting that financial commitments are a growing concern amongst UK households. Perhaps too often do we turn to new forms of credit when in fact there is potential to unlock savings within our existing means. The difficulty of course is learning to not only exist but live within our realistic means and for many of us, this takes some practice. The good news is that many of us could probably start saving money today by making minor adjustments to our existing costs and in doing so save money on a monthly then annual basis. Today then let’s look at just a few of the hundreds of tips there are to choose from when it comes to saving a little bit of cash here and there.

First and foremost, the vast majority of us could more than likely benefit from a complete review of our current and existing monthly expenses and one of the simplest ways of doing this is using a Budget Planner. There are several Budget Planners which are free to use online and will give you the basis from which savings can be made. An example of such a resource can be found by visiting the Debt Advice Foundation. The reason why this is a good starting point for your efforts to save money is because it will detail exactly how much you are currently spending and in doing so is likely to highlight existing areas of over-spending. This is why it is really important to complete a budget planner in a manner which is completely honest and as accurate as possible. The next simple step is to review your budget and plan on where you could make cut back, for example, on the amount you spend on clothing each month.

The next tip is in relation to generating some extra money, from the resources you already have. This is not to say you need to go out and get another job but instead means taking a long hard look at what exists in your home without purpose. Do you have kids toys stored away that are no longer played with? Or perhaps you have a pile of DVD’s which haven’t been watched in years. The point here is there are options for your unwanted and unused household items. Whether you decide to do a car-boot, sell your items online or hold a garage sale, the end result will be a little extra money in your pocket for very little effort or loss.

The next tip which likely applies to us all is to get savvy when it comes to shopping. Whether this means the amount you spend on food or even clothing each month; it’s time to start thinking smarter when it comes to making new purchases. If you are not in a financial position to shop online, it’s best you simply do not do it. Online retailers in particular are very clever when it comes to their marketing techniques and as such when you arrive on their site; they want you to feel the need to purchase. This means whether there is 10% or 20% discount available; do not make a purchase which in reality you didn’t need in the first place. Most online retailers continually and consistently offer promotions given how often consumers like to browse online and this means if you see an offer once and cannot afford to make the purchase, be confident coming back when you can will more than likely still mean a discount of some form being available.

Keeping on the subject of the internet, it is important to remember it is in fact a massive resource for potentially saving money. Whether this is using comparison based sites for saving money on our energy bills, insurance requirements orweekly food shop, there are many different resources to choose from. For more information on how the internet could help you to save money or just money saving tips in general, why not visit Step Change, who are a charity based organisation looking to assist consumers in effective money management.